Green Arrow - Emerald Archer

Chapter Eight

Oliver had finally done it. After sleepless nights of searching, he had finally found it. The location of China White. It was really all thanks to Diggle, though, because if he hadn't been given Oliver his space lately, Oliver would have never had the time to research and hack while still trying to make up excuses for where all his time had gone.

Oliver leaned back in his chair, relieved. Tech had never been Oliver's strong suit, so the past several days had been rough. But now he could just go and do what he did best. Fight. And he was ready. He was ready to show Star City that he was going to help. That all he wanted to do was help the city, not hurt it. He didn't know what he would do after that, but he knew that stopping drugs that have already killed dozens in Star City was a pretty great start. And that was all he needed. A start.

Oliver stood up and grabbed the bow off the table beside him. He pulled his hood atop his head to keep his identity covered and it was dark outside, meaning no one would be able to see his face. He was going to stop Vertigo this time. He would not let anyone in Star City fall victim to something like that. Not on Oliver's watch.

--

Several minutes later, Oliver stood atop the roof of a building near the location of China White. He had already scouted the perimeter of their location, seeing no one. He was just outside the Glades, the poor and run-down part of Star City, not unlike the infamous Narrows of Gotham City. Oliver had tracked White to a very small building in the middle of the block. It seemed like an odd place to run a drug organization, but the smaller the place, the better chance Oliver had of stopping the whole thing. Oliver looked around one more time to make sure no one was watching, then shot a grapple arrow into a spot just above one of the windows of the house. And with a firm yank of his bow, Oliver sped down and swiftly kicked in the window of the house, falling on his knee. He stood up and looked around. It was not what he expected. The whole house was lit, revealing just one room. It was an empty room, with only two chairs and one desk in it. That seemed to be the whole building. Oliver didn't expect things to be this easy. Sitting in the desk of the room was just the person Oliver wanted to see. China White. She was sitting patiently, as if waiting for something. Oliver had the gut feeling that he was that something. Oliver debated whether to shoot her right there, but something seemed off. Had she triggered something? Oliver decided he would wait to find out more before shooting.

"Ah, Oliver Queen, I've been expecting you," she said sweetly, offering him a seat. Oliver declined, staring at her. "I hear you've been getting popular lately. Been rescuing cats from those trees?"

"No, that's Superman's job. I've been doing something more important." Oliver said darkly, pulling back his bow string, an arrow ready to fly. "Looking for you."

"Oh. Well, I have to say I'm flattered. A whole vigilante, just for me." she said, tapping her fingers on the desk. "But while you've been wasting your time, I've been thinking. Why deliver one package of Vertigo at a time? It's not easy making those things, and some people decide to take the high road and don't even go through with taking the drug. I realized that things would go much faster if I could just make a gadget, a bomb per-say, that would release a toxin with traces of Vertigo in it. It would have the same effect, of course, but it would have a much quicker distribution, don't you think?"

"I'm going to kill you," Oliver replied, his bow still pointed at her.

"See, that's your problem. You're too focused on me. It's not me you're going to have to worry about, it's the bomb," China White reached into her desk and brought out a red button. "If I press this, the bomb goes off. It's simple, really. The toxin will then be released, spreading through Star City. I'd say give the city twenty-four hours, maybe less. Everyone will be either dead or hooked on our drug. It's genius, don't you think?"

Oliver released his arrow, but it didn't go anywhere. Someone had grabbed his arm to stop the force. The arrow fell harmlessly to the ground and Oliver felt something cold touch his skull. A gun.

"How about we don't do any of that. Now, where was I? Oh, right. The bomb. Whoops," China said, pressing the red button. "Tick, tock, Mr. Queen. Star City is counting on you. Unfortunately though, you will save no one. Or kill me. As it turns out, you can't do anything about what's going to happen. That just kills you inside, doesn't it. I can tell. "

Laughing, China White walked out a side door and boarded a car. It drove off into the distance. Oliver elbowed the person behind him and turned, grabbing the hilt of the man's gun and twisting his arm around with it. He released the gun and Oliver used it to hit him in the head. He went down, revealing another man with a gun. He shot and Oliver ducked, coming back up with an arrow in his quiver. He released the arrow and it soared into the man, who also fell. The last man pointed his gun at Oliver, but just then he was knocked sideways. A car had hit him. The door to the car opened and John Diggle stepped out.

"I totally had that," Oliver told him.

"What happened to our deal?" he shouted angrily.

Oliver waved it aside, "We have bigger problems. It's worse than I thought. There's a Vertigo bomb. And it's about to go off."